Haus der Weimarer Republik
About This Site
The central place of remembrance for Germany's first democracy, standing directly opposite the theatre in which that democracy was founded.
Across the square from where it happened, 1919
The museum describes itself as "der zentrale Erinnerungsort an die erste deutsche Demokratie" — the central place of remembrance for the first German democracy — and it stands at the founding site, directly opposite the Deutsches Nationaltheater. That is not a coincidence of property but the whole idea: you can look out of it at the building where the National Assembly sat in 1919.
What is inside
The permanent display is a multimedia exhibition of objects, film, photographs and interactive elements, alongside temporary exhibitions and a "Forum für Demokratie". The house also publishes a free browser game, "Mission 1929 – Freiheit unter Druck", which tells you something about the intended audience: this is a museum that treats the Republic as an argument still running rather than a period that closed in 1933.
Why it exists here and not in Berlin
Germany's first democracy is named after this town for a practical reason — Berlin was too dangerous to write a constitution in — and the name has carried the Republic's failure as much as its founding ever since. A museum of that Republic in Weimar is therefore doing something a Berlin museum could not: it stands in the place the name came from, opposite the room where the vote was taken.
Questions visitors ask
- What is the Haus der Weimarer Republik?
- The central place of remembrance for Germany's first democracy, standing directly opposite the Deutsches Nationaltheater — the building where the National Assembly sat in 1919.
- Why is it in Weimar and not Berlin?
- The first German democracy is named after this town because Berlin was too dangerous a place to write a constitution in 1919. A museum of that Republic in Weimar stands in the place the name came from, opposite the room where the vote was taken — something a Berlin museum could not do.
- What is inside?
- A multimedia permanent exhibition of objects, film, photographs and interactive elements, alongside temporary exhibitions, a "Forum für Demokratie" and a free browser game, "Mission 1929 – Freiheit unter Druck".
- What does it commemorate?
- The National Assembly that convened in 1919 in the theatre across the square, and the constitution carried there the same year.
Visit Information
In Weimar's history
Historical periods
The central place of remembrance for the republic this town gave its name to.
Germany's first democracy is named after this town for an almost accidental reason: in 1919 the capital was too dangerous to write a constitution in, and Weimar was quiet.
In Weimar's history
On 6 February 1919 the assembly elected to write Germany a constitution met for the first time, in a court theatre eleven years old. Weimar was chosen because Berlin was too dangerous.
It commemorates the assembly that convened in 1919 in the building across the square.
On 31 July 1919 the delegates voted Germany's first democratic constitution through in its final form, in the Nationaltheater. It was signed somewhere else entirely.
It commemorates the constitution carried in 1919 in the theatre opposite.
Stages and venues
Theaterplatz 4, 99423 Weimar
The city's own listing places the garden beside it — you drink in the shade of the museum of the republic.